It is only a one hour flight from Port Moresby to Cairns. We sometimes go there for a change of air. This time Wanda joined me from Brisbane. We spent a few days in the region, traveling around, visiting friends and attending a Leonard Cohen concert.

Cassowaries feed mainly on fruit, although all species are truly omnivorous and will take a range of other plant food including shoots, grass seeds, andfungi in addition to invertebrates and small vertebrates. Cassowaries are very shy, but when provoked they are capable of inflicting injuries to dogs and people, although fatalities are extremely rare.

It is the second time that colleague Tai is leaving us. The first time was a year ago, when he still was in Houston. After only three months we asked him to come and join us in Brisbane. We therefore wonder if this will really be the last time, there might be a ¨boomerang effect” bringing him back to us. So, as we say in French, ¨ce n’est qu’un au revoir”

Toowoomba, 200km West of Brisbane and 600 meter high, overlooks the Darling Downs . It takes a 2 hours drive to get there.

View East from Picnic Point showing Table Top Mountain and Darling Downs – photo from unknown

Toowoomba is famous for its flowers. Several gardens and parks enhance the city landscape. A flower festival is held annualy in the spring, in the last week of September. We were there a month later, in October. The best was already gone but there still was a lot to see. I am personally not so ¨flower minded”, but for the fans this is a place not to miss.

in the Rose Garden

Wanda and the bottle tree, the young lad in the background insisted to be on the photo

Toowoomba – railway station/la gare

Southern Cross Museum photo Wanda Michalak

Spring Bluff Railway Station

Spring Bluff Railway Station today is a heritage listed site located on the main railway line between Ipswich and Toowoomba. Its significance stems from 145 years of railway history and the attraction of its beautiful landscaped gardens.

In the 1970’s, Queensland Rail introduced steam train excursions from Toowoomba to Spring Bluff in response to public interest in the prize winning gardens during Toowoomba’s Carnival of Flowers. Today diesel-hauled trains run twice daily during Carnival week from Toowoomba to Spring Bluff.

Hervey Bay- 200km north of Brisbane – is touted as the “whale-watching capital of the world”. After fleeing the Antartic winter to mate and calve in the warmer waters off northeastern Australia, the humpback whales cruise into Hervey Bay’s sheltered waters for a few days before returning to the deep south. Humpback are showy acrobats, you’ll see them waving their pectoral fins, tail slapping, breaching or simply ¨blowing¨. Whales are curious creatures, and many will roll-up beside the whale watching boats with one eye clear of the water, making those on board wonder who’s watching whom (text rom the Lonely Planet guide)

typical whale watcher

whale spotters

It took a while, but we finally spotted a couple of whales, in this case a mother with her child

and then we spotted some more, thanks to our experienced captain/guide

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleenwhale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the water. Males produce a complex song, which lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating.

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres (16,000 mi) each year. Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. The species’ diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique.

Like other large whales, the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Due to overhunting, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a whaling moratorium was introduced in 1966. Stocks have since partially recovered; however, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution also remain concerns. There are at least 80,000 humpback whales worldwide. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpbacks are now sought by whale watchers, particularly off parts of Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada, and the United States.

July is winter season in Australia. However, the winter in Brisbane is very mild. It hardly rains -it is the dry season – and the temperature is usually around 18-20 degrees at day time. But the evenings and nights can be fresh, with temperatures as low as 8-9 degrees. All in all not too bad.

Friends from Holland, Nelly Schaap and family, visited us during this period of time. They stayed a night at our place before heading North, direction Cairns, with a rented camper. They later reported cold nights on Fraser Island, their first stop. They however were thoroughly enjoying.

Our friend Christina Gomez came over from Melbourne for a long week end. She only had summer clothes with her. No problem at day time, but in the evening she had to borrow some of Wanda’s jackets. She however enjoyed the visit. Even so much that, a few weeks later, she sms’d us she had decided to move to Brisbane. She is one of these lucky people who can work from anywhere.

Birkalla Street – BBQ

Vivian, Nelly, Pieter, Christina, Rodin

Good meal, prepared by the Schaap family. I did not know the Dutch can prepare such good BBQ. They almost beat the Ossies…

Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which sounds uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter – good-natured, but rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the renowned Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae); and maniacal cackling in the case of the slightly smaller Blue-winged Kookaburra (D. leachii). They are generally not closely associated with water, and can be found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, but also in suburban and residential areas near running water and where food can be searched for easily.